
Secret Political Societies in the 

South during the Period 

of Reconstruction 




Secret Political Societies in the South 
during the Period of Reconstruction 



An Address before the Faculty and Friends 

of Western Reserve University, 

Cleveland, Ohio 



BY 



Walter Henry Cook, A. M., L. L. B. 

Instructor in History, Western Reserve University 



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PREFATORY NOTE. 

The limitations of a short lecture require that con- 
clusions of the speaker supplant an extended recital of 
narrative facts. To a considerable study of the source 
materials and secondary works, covering the period of 
Reconstruction, I have attempted to add the human 
element necessary to an appreciation of the great burden 
upon the South during Carpet-hag and negro rule. 
Though a Northerner hy parentage and education, I 
have been long convinced that the operations of the Ku 
Klux Klan have 7iot been interpreted properly by his- 
torians of my section. A lack of unprejudiced source 
materials, a failure to comprehend the inherent virtues 
of the men and women of the South, and a misunder- 
stayiding of the social and economic problems of post- 
bellum days have been the chief causes, rather than sec- 
tional prejudices. Within mjy limited range of influence 
the opinions ventured in the following lecture have been 
accepted by Northerners with enthusiasm. A sincere 
sympathy and true brotherly feeling have taken the place 
of the misunderstandings of the past. To widen the pos- 
sible influence of my words, and to tell the South of the 
true friendship of the North, I have ventured the publi- 
cation of the following conclusions. Yet it must be re- 
membered that I am only mie of many Northern his- 
torical students attempting to read history with the heart 
and eyes both. While I must shoulder the responsibility 
for the ideas herein expressed, in the general field of 
historical interpretation I acknowledge entire indebted- 
ness to Elbert Jay Benton, Ph.D., Haydn Professor of 
History in Western Reserve University. His broad sym- 
pathy and liberal understanding in the treatment of 
historic forces have been a source of constant pleasure 

and helpfulness. 

Walter Henry Cook. 



"Secret Political Societies in the South during the 
Period of Reconstruction." 

With April, 1865, came the collapse of the Confederacy. 
Northern soldiers were taken to their homes with every 
comfort and convenience, permitted by the times and con- 
ditions. Everywhere they were received with the most 
heart-felt rejoicing. They returned to a North more pros- 
perous than when the struggle had begun, and fortunately 
were soon absorbed in the new economic life of their sec- 
tion. The number of manufactories had increased during 
the war. Railroads had opened up the western country. 
Thousands of recent immigrants were supplying labor for 
both factory and farm. The North had passed through 
one of the most destructive wars in the history of the 
world, and yet had increased its wealth, its population, and 
its power. 

The southern soldiers, defeated, sorrowful, ill-clad, ill- 
fed, sick in mind and in body, labored slowly and pain- 
fully to their homes mostly on foot. They found the South 
desolated — prostrate. During the war northern armies 
had destroyed the economic system of the South. Along 
the lines of invasion slaves had been constantly emanci- 
pated, and thousands left the farms, "in spite of crops to 
be cultivated, stock to be cared for, or food to be pro- 
vided," to test their new freedom, following the Union 
army, though wasting away in idleness, vice, want and 
disease. "The lives of even the well-to-do classes had been 
reduced to a pitifully primitive — even barbarous — level." 
Parched rye and dried blackberry leaves had, in many sec- 
tions, taken the place of coffee and tea. "Women drew out 
the spinning wheels and hand looms and made clothing. 
The old men and the more skilful slaves learned to make 
shoes." Public property was destroyed or confiscated. 



Bridges were down, factories in ashes, railroads in ruins, 
and steam boats were no longer seen on the rivers. "Bank 
stock and deposits, bonds of all sorts were worthless," and 
confederate currency "had not even the value of a souvenir 
on a glutted market." The South was in a pitiable con- 
dition. 

With characteristic fortitude the southern men and 
women now turned every energy to the production of 
enough food to sustain life. The next task was to build up 
a new economic order, without slavery, but one which 
recognized the ignorance, lack of skill, vagrant habits, and 
animal sensuality of the negroes. The southerners saw the 
problem. They alone understood the solution. "The |)egro 
must work, obey the laws, respect property, settle down, 
live up to his contracts, cease vagrant habits, become re- 
sponsible to himself and to others." To bring about these re- 
sults the southern states passed a series of vagrancy laws 
copied from the statutes of the New England states. These 
laws had served to make good citizens out of the scum of 
Europe that had settled in the northeast, if our Puritan 
ancestors are to be believed. But the North failed to see 
the analogy, and, misled by the lies of Radical Republicans 
in Congress, and of their subsidized newspapers, became 
convinced that the South was attempting to re-enslave the 
negroes. The so-called "Black Codes" were set aside by 
agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, a division of the War 
Department, planned to protect the freedmen in their rela- 
tions with the whites. While many of the agents of this 
Bureau were honest and intended well, they were totally 
ignorant of the real character of the former slaves, and of 
the economic and social problem to be solved, and, by a too 
minute interference in southern affairs, succeeded only in 
rendering the negroes unreliable and insubordinate. The 
Freedmen's Bureau was, on the whole, a disturbing pater- 
nalistic curse, and its agents soon became mere political or- 
ganizers, stirring up the former slaves to hate their mas- 
ters, preaching an impossible social equality, and stopping 
short of no fraud or violence to insure a solid negro vote 



for the Republican Party. Negroes refused to work on the 
farms, for they were told that there would be a division of 
their former masters' lands among them, when Thad. 
Stevens got his confiscation bill through Congress. Crowds 
of drunken negroes, armed by the Freedmen's Bureau, ran 
through the streets, insulting white men and women, and 
crying, "de bottom rail's on de top and we's gwine to keep 
it dar." These poor ignorant, barbarous children, freed 
from the wholesome restraint of southern influence, were 
made the tools of the alien white vandals from the North, 
and became not only idle, vicious, thieving and insolent, but 
also a monstrous menace to white womanhood. To make 
the burden still more onerous, thieving treasury agents 
stole thirty million dollars worth of cotton, tobacco and rice 
on the false charge that this property had belonged to the 
Confederate Government, and was hence subject to confis- 
cation, but the National Treasury got none of it. And still 
worse the National Government, with signal lack of magna- 
nimity, levied a tax of from ten to fifteen dollars a bale on 
cotton, which, during the three years after the war, took 
seventy million dollars from the cotton states. It would 
seem that there was little left in the South to steal, but the 
mercenary hosts of Goths and Vandals, that flocked to the 
South to enforce Congressional Reconstruction in the inter- 
ests of the Radical Republican Party, showed marvelous 
ingenuity in the art of devastation. 

By the close of hostilities the duty of the North toward 
the South was clear, namely, to provide the latter with a 
political organization fitted to its economic needs ; one that 
would protect property, protect life, and bring order out of 
chaos. Who could better do this than the intelligent whites 
of the South? They alone knew the problem. But could 
they be trusted to reorganize governments that would in- 
sure the freedom of the negroes, and that would be loyal 
members of the Union? Clearly so. Every bit of non- 
partisan evidence shows that the southerners accepted the 
freedom of the slaves as a natural concomitant of defeat, 
and, like good soldiers that they were, waited with proper 



humiliation the conditions of the conqueror. Mr. Lincoln 
saw this clearly. With characteristic wisdom and mercy 
he was willing to recognize new state governments in the 
South, as fully restored members of the Union, as soon as 
state organizations had been completed by southern men 
who would take an oath of loyalty to the new Union. Of 
course the freedom of the negroes must be forever se- 
cured, but, on the other hand, suffrage was to be the same 
as before the war. Mr. Lincoln did not favor unlimited 
negro suffrage. He could not be brought to believe in 
forcing negro suffrage on the South, since in some states 
the negroes far outnumbered the whites, and the mass of 
these former slaves "ignorant and barbarous, many less 
than fifty years removed from the savagery of Africa." 
Mr. Lincoln's successor was of the same mind, and at- 
tempted to carry out the former's reconstruction policy. 
By the spring of 1866 reorganized loyal state governments 
had been formed in each of the southern states in con- 
formity with the Lincoln plan, and southern Senators and 
Representatives were knocking upon the door of Congress 
for recognition and admission. 

Would Congress adopt the liberal policy of Mr. Lincoln ? 
At first perhaps a majority of the Republicans wished to do 
so, but day by day the radical element grew stronger, and 
finally Congress was completely controlled by the overbear- 
ing leadership of two Radicals, Thaddeus Stevens and 
Charles Sumner. The Radical program in general con- 
sisted of 1st, hanging of the "rebel" leaders; secondly, a 
wholesale confiscation of the "rebels' " lands ; thirdly, a 
sweeping disfranchisement of the whites of the South ; and 
fourthly, complete negro enfranchisement. This infamous 
plan presented a mixture of vindictive sectional animosity, 
far-fetched humanitarianism, highway robbery, and the 
perpetuation of control by the Republican Party through a 
thorough Africanization of the southern state governments. 

Hanging "Jeff Davis" and confiscation were too much 
for the North, even blinded as it was by the Radical manip- 
ulation of public opinion. But the rest of the program 



was quickly put into operation by the Reconstruction Acts 
of Congress. Control of the southern state and local gov- 
ernments by a few white hirelings of Congress aided by 
complete negro suffrage and white disfranchisement was 
the object sought and attained. To enforce this program 
the southern states were divided into five military districts, 
each commanded by a general of the army, with despotic 
authority over civil, legal, and military affairs, and with 
Federal troops to support him. Registration of voters was 
intrusted to these men, who appointed election officials and 
returning boards from the class of greedy adventurers now 
swarming to the plunder, and from the negroes. Consti- 
tutions were to be adopted by these white rascals and the 
negroes, since the whites of the South were largely dis- 
franchised. Many of these new constitutions were more il- 
liberal in barring the white people of the South from their 
political rights than was Congress. They all gave the great 
mass of ignorant negroes unlimited rights to the ballot and 
to the holding of office, and provided penalties for denying 
to the freedmen complete social equality. As was intended 
by Congress, the state governments and local governments 
fell completely into the hands of its northern camp-follow- 
ers, called Carpet-baggers, held in power by a modicum of 
southern whites, called Scalawags, who had deserted to the 
Radical cause at the first signs of possible exploitation, and 
by the negroes. Of course Federal troops and negro militia 
saw to it that as few of the southern whites as possible 
were burdened with any participation in political affairs. 
Thus were dishonesty and ignorance exalted and civilization 
wiped out. "In hoc signo vinces." No longer would the 
spectre of a united Democratic party disturb the political 
dreams of the servile followers of old Thad. Stevens. Be- 
fore presenting definite evidence to substantiate these asser- 
tions I wish to say that the congressional policy of recon- 
struction as enforced proved the most wantonly cruel, the 
most flagrantly corrupt, and the most barbarous conditions 
ever imposed by a merciless conqueror upon a prostrate 
people. 



The political and economic demoralization of the south- 
ern states during Carpet-bag and negro rule is shown in 
the character of state and local office holders, in the igno- 
rant and corrupt legislation, in the inefficient and dishonest 
administrations of public servants, in the bitter class con- 
flicts, and in the constant interference of the national gov- 
ernment in favor of the Radical program. While four of 
the southern states, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and North 
Carolina, soon fell into Conservative hands, thanks to south- 
ern grit and the Ku Klux Klan, each of these states suffered 
from reconstruction in direct proportion to the length and 
thoroughness of Radical Republican control. 

The maladministration of public affairs was due both to 
inefficiency and corruption. The higher positions of state 
were safely kept in the hands of the white Carpet-baggers, 
while lesser officers in the state governments and practically 
all of the county and town officers were negroes. The num- 
ber of Scalawags constantly diminished, for even these 
detestable southern white apostates found it impossible to 
follow their brother politicians from the north in dancing 
with the dusky belles at negro parties, kissing the darky 
babies for campaign purposes, and entertaining the negroes 
freely in their homes. So, too, the better element of Carpet- 
baggers soon left for the North, when "dollar cotton" proved 
an elusive hope, and in consequence the worst element 
predominated. Governor Warmoth of Louisiana was no- 
toriously corrupt, though he represented the rule rather 
than the exception in the standard of Carpetbag governors. 
During his four years of yegging he accumulated between 
a half million and a million dollars, on a salary of eight 
thousand dollars a year. Governor Moses of South Caro- 
lina testified before a House committee that he had received 
bribes equalling more than sixty-five thousand dollars. Gov- 
ernor Clayton of Arkansas "plunged into radicalism, and 
openly avowed he would depopulate the state and repeople 
it with loyal negroes." Wallace, in his "Carpet Bag Rule 
in Florida," gives an illuminating description of the Re- 
publican state ticket in 1876. He says, "The Republicans 

10 



witnessed the spectacle of their candidate for Governor 
being charged with stealing the meat and flour given by the 
government as a charitable contribution to the helpless 
men, women and children, many of whom were clad in 
rags; the second man on the ticket publicly charged with 
arson ; the third man on the ticket burdened with the crime 
of causing the slaughter of the innocent victims of the 
Jackson County troubles; and the fourth man having ar- 
rested Democratic members of the legislature, while he was 
United States District Attorney, on trumped up charges, in 
order to give the Carpetbaggers a majority, and, further, 
with attempting through the agency of Governor Stearns 
to fasten the illegal four millions of bonds upon the state." 
Wallace was painting a true picture. Only too often do we 
find the Federal officials at this time stooping to the most 
despicable tricks to aid these "Lords of Misrule." Nordhoff, 
in his "Cotton States," said, "The late treasurer of Hinds 
County, Mississippi, was a negro who could neither read 
nor write, and who was killed by another negro a few weeks 
ago for a disgraceful intrigue. In the last legislature were 
several negroes who could neither read nor write. It has 
happened that (all) the members of a grand jury were 
totally illiterate. A city government was to be elected last 
August in Vicksburg, and the Republicans nominated for 
mayor a man at the time under indictment for twenty-three 
offenses, and for alderman seven colored men, mostly of low 
character, and one white man, who could neither read nor 
write, the keeper of a low groggery. Of the present super- 
visors of Warren County the president and two others can- 
not read. It is a notorious fact that Governor Ames has 
appointed to judicial places men ignorant of the law, and 
that he has used his appointing power to shield criminals, 
who were his adherents, and to corrupt the judiciary of the 
state." There is no lack of evidence to substantiate Mr. 
Nordhoff' s statement. This same writer has given us an 
excellent and truthful characterization of Carpet-bag rule 
in Louisiana, and it is worth repeating here. He says, 
"This small band of white men have for more than six 



years monopolized all political power in the state. They 
have laid, collected, and spent (and largely mis-spent) all 
the taxes, local as well as state; they have not only made 
the laws, but they have arbitrarily changed them, and have 
miserably failed to enforce any which were for the people's 
good; they have openly and scandalously corrupted the 
colored men whom they have brought into political life; 
they have used unjust laws to perpetuate and extend their 
own power; and they have practiced all the basest arts of 
ballot-stuffing, false registration, and repeating at election 
after election." 

These statements and others that are to follow are by 
capable southern writers, whose remarks are accepted by 
such investigators as Mr. Dunning and Mr. Rhodes, as well 
as other northern historians. I must confess, however, 
that the soft pedal is often applied when drawing con- 
clusions concerning the southerners' justification in re- 
belling against such a pernicious Congressional tyranny. 
Milksopism is often the price of publication. 

B. F. Moore, a Conservative Republican of unquestioned 
veracity, says, "A great many of the new appointments (re- 
ferring to Justices of the Peace in North Carolina) were 
men of known bad character, men convicted of theft, and 
men who could not read and write. Why, sir, precepts have 
been brought to me issued by justices who were not able to 
sign their names. Justices who tried important cases, in- 
volving misdemeanors, for which the parties might be sent 
to jail, could not write, and had to make their marks for 
their signatures." In Alabama "you would find members of 
the General Assembly unable to read — incapable of under- 
standing the meaning of a law after being enacted by their 
votes; and unable to explain perhaps what measures they 
had voted for or against." Ignorance and corruption go 
hand in hand and the illiterate negroes were made the tools 
of the grossly dishonest Carpet-baggers. Nor can the ne- 
groes be said to have been merely ignorant, for they were 
apt pupils in this school of fraud and usurpation. An 
illustration will suffice. In Florida the negro members of 

12 



the legislature suspected that their white leaders were se- 
curing the lion's share of the graft. A caucus was held 
and a committee was appointed to communicate with all 
lobbyists relative to securing their share of the boodle. This 
"smelling committee," as it has been called, was disap- 
pointed, however, for no money was forthcoming, though 
its chairman soon showed evidences of suddenly acquired 
riches. The latter was forced to admit that he had appro- 
priated the negroes' share of the graft funds, thus revers- 
ing the old adage that "there is honor among thieves." 

In South Carolina's lower house of legislature, which 
Mr. Rhodes says was "at once a wonder and a shame to 
modern civilization," there were one hundred and one Re- 
publicans, ninety-four colored and seven white. Pike, in 
his "Prostrate State," describes this Black Parliament as 
follows : "The Speaker is black, the clerk is black, the door- 
keepers are black, the chairman of the Ways and Means 
committee is black, and the chaplain is coal black. At some 
of the desks sit colored men whose types it would be hard 
to find outside of Congo; whose visages, attitudes and ex- 
pression only befit the forecastle of a buccaneer." W. 
Beverly Nash, an astute, though low negro politician of 
South Carolina, was the leader of the Republican party in 
the Senate of that state. Nash, when caught accepting a 
bribe, ingenuously answered that the rest were doing it, 
and that it would keep the money in the state. 

This brief description of the new ruling class in the 
South will explain the incapable and dishonest legislation 
which characterized the period. Naturally in financial 
matters the worst phases of this sort of legislation present 
themselves. Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ar- 
kansas and Alabama suffered more than the other states 
along this line. "Railroad and bond swindles were ex- 
tensive in all the southern states except Mississippi. In 
every state the counties and towns in the black districts 
were plundered and left with heavy debts." The public 
debts of the reconstructed states doubled up with amazing 
rapidity. Even the legitimate expenditures were accom- 

13 



panied with waste and theft. School funds were stolen, 
and, in many instances, the teachers left without pay. 
Wild schemes of internal improvements were entered upon, 
particularly in the building of railroads. In this field were 
to be found the choicest opportunities for peculation. "In 
almost any state," says Alexander Johnson, "a lobby rich 
enough to purchase the legislature could secure the passage 
of an act issuing bonds in aid of a railroad, supplemented 
by a subsequent act releasing the state's lien on the road, 
the whole making up an absolute gift of money. But the 
land, which must ultimately be taxed for the payment of 
such gifts, remained in the hands of the whites." This 
ruinous financial mismanagement is shown in the fact that 
by 1872 the increase of indebtedness of the eleven states 
since their reconstruction was over one hundred and 
thirty-one million dollars, "more than two-thirds of which 
consisted of guarantees to various enterprises, chiefly rail- 
roads." Since in many cases these state bonds were issued 
before the roads were started, no obligation was felt to go 
on with the work^ and hence the money was pocketed by 
favored promoters, after a liberal greasing of the combi- 
nation of bootleggers and bootblacks in the legislature. 

State printing also gave opportunity for the grossest 
frauds, and thousands of dollars of illegal expenditures for 
printing, not needed and mostly not delivered, went to en- 
rich the Carpet-baggers and their cohorts. Another glaring 
example of corrupt expenditures is to be found in the 
enormous outlays of the states' funds by the legislators for 
purely personal luxuries and entertainment, and these ac- 
counts, no matter how large nor how absurd, were prompt- 
ly paid by the officials as legitimate "state supplies." Legis- 
lative vouchers in South Carolina and the other states 
demonstrate that the new ruling class was not neglectful of 
those things considered the proper concomitants of aristo- 
cratic living. In South Carolina whole wagon loads of 
such fraudulently purchased articles were carried away 
by the legislators. The list of "state supplies," so-called in 
South Carolina, includes every conceivable object of per- 



sonal adornment, household furnishings, barn necessities, 
including horses, mules, carriages, etc., and in addition the 
most expensive liquors and tobacco^. Two hundred thou- 
sand dollars was spent in this state for the purchase of 
furniture to adorn the state house, if we are to believe the 
appropriation bill in point, but investigation proved that 
only seventeen thousand was spent for that purpose. The 
remaining one hundred and eighty-three thousand was di- 
vided in some manner among the faithful. So completely 
was the state in control of these masters of high finance 
that no attempt was made to conceal such frauds. It 
seems, too, that the black and tan statesmen of South Caro- 
lina were not willing to see their departed "brethern" ap- 
proach the nether word unprotected, for a coffin is included 
in the list of "state supplies." "My lady's" needs were also 
considered, and ladies' satchels, ladies' hoods, skirt braids 
and pins, imported kid gloves, ribbons, scissors, hair 
brushes, tooth brushes, buttons, whale-bone, linen hand- 
kerchiefs, ginghams, hooks and eyes, boulevard skirts, 
bustles, corsets, extra long stockings, garters, parasols, 
cradles, ad infinitum, were copiously provided. At any 
rate a South Carolinian legislator could say, in the terms 
of our invincible Theodore, "we are practical men." 

The vaunted southern hospitality, as dealt out by north- 
ern Carpet-baggers, was in evidence, if the "refreshment 
room" of the South Carolina Senate may be taken as an 
example. This popular and populous institution was a 
cafe-grill connected with the Senate chamber, where the 
members of that body entertained themselves and their 
friends with the choicest wines, and the most expensive 
imported cigars and chewing tobacco. Political and 
economic frauds were hatched here in open saturnalia, and 
the ceremony generally lasted far into the morning of the 
next day. It was considered quite proper to slip a bottle of 
champagne into one's pocket upon leaving. In additi(5ii a 
brothel, run by a low colored woman, was maintained near 
the capitol by official legislative prodigality. Of course the 
southern whites paid the bill. The spirit back of such dis- 

15 



honesty is shown in the statement of Senator Leslie, a 
Carpet-bagger from Massachusetts, that, "a state had no 
right to be a state unless it could take care of its statesmen." 

Embezzlement of state and local funds was a common 
and expected occurrence. Between 1868 and 1871 three 
Republican treasurers were appointed by the Governor of 
South Carolina for Edgefield County. The first proved a 
defaulter for twenty-five thousand dollars, the second for 
thirty thousand dollars, and the third for fifty thousand 
dollars. Each had learned new tricks from his predecessor. 

Taxation increased enormously with these expenditures. 
The state levy in Mississippi was fourteen times greater in 
1874 than at the beginning of reconstruction. Local levies 
were correspondingly high. This, of course, led to a large 
confiscation of the estates of the poverty-stricken southern 
whites for unpaid taxes. These poor men and women were 
at the mercy of corrupt courts and grasping state and 
local officials, and were promptly and unceremoniously 
turned out-of-doors by their unmerciful persecutors. In 
Mississippi six hundred and forty thousand acres were thus 
forfeited for taxes, twenty per cent of the total land in the 
state, and a larger area than is comprised in the states of 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island together. Forty-seven 
thousand, four hundred and seventy-one seizures were 
made in Louisiana in three years. In Beaufort County, 
South Carolina, seven hundred out of twenty-three hun- 
dred farms were forfeited. 

When we consider that taxes were raised to a confis- 
catory limit to pay for the immense frauds I have been 
describing, and that the taxpayers were unrepresented in 
the taxing bodies, the enormity of Carpet-bag misrule is 
more easily comprehended. Then when we realize that the 
homes of the southern white men and women were pur- 
chased for a song at sheriff's sale by the Carpet-baggers, 
Scalawags and negroes from their ill-gotten gains, the 
limitations of polite English prevent an adequate expres- 
sion of contempt and loathing. 



We can easily agree that these reconstructed state gov- 
ernments were positively vile. More irritating still to the 
southern people were the political methods employed in 
corraling the great herd of dusky maverics, roping them, 
and branding them with the indelible letters "T. R. P.," 
tools of the Republican Party. The Radicals did not suffer 
from a want of leaders to conduct the party to victory and 
to accept graciously the accompanying spoils when once 
the negroes were welded together into a thoughtless, com- 
pliant mass. This then was the problem for the Carpet- 
baggers. The first step was, of course, to instill in the 
credulous minds of the freedmen a fear and hatred of the 
men they had formerly served. By an appeal to the nascent 
race animosity the two peoples would be permanently 
alienated, and a real "Black Republicanism" established. 
Into the suspicious ears of the negroes was poured, by day 
and night, the direful prophesy, *'if the southerners regain 
control you will again be made slaves." The combined in- 
telligence of the South failed in an endeavor to counteract 
the influence of these radical muckrakers. The misguided 
blacks were finally held in control by a relentless party dis- 
cipline, through a secret, oath-bound organization, the 
Loyal League. 

To fully appreciate the mischief-making propensity of 
the Carpet-baggers we must investigate the methods and 
operations of this secret political society. The order had, 
during the war, been composed of northern sympathizers 
in the South, who, to express it gently, were too timid to 
take up arms for the cause they championed, and too fear- 
ful to openly advocate their ideas. From 1866 the com- 
plexion of the Loyal League changed from yellow to black 
by the initiation of most of the negroes of the South. A 
secret society, with impressive oaths and rituals, was prob- 
ably the most efficacious method of controlling these prim- 
itive creatures. Of course the officers were Carpet-baggers, 
and their unscrupulous influence was the cause of much of 
the disorder occasioned by the negro rank and file of the 
Loyal League. Tongue lashings by Radical leaders, in 



which hatred of the southern whites and revenge for ex- 
aggerated or fancied wrongs were the salient features, were 
invariably followed by disorders on the part of the negroes, 
resulting often in violence, arson, and even murder. 

Before detailing the political conditions caused by the 
Loyal League let me ensconce myself in a statement of 
Walter L. Fleming, a recognized authority. He says, re- 
ferring to the Loyal League, "The strictest discipline was 
enforced, and personal injury, even death, was the penalty 
for voting the Democratic ticket. Night meetings, with im- 
pressive ceremonies and solemn oaths; parades and drills, 
promises of confiscation ; threats of being returned to slav- 
ery; speeches by visiting agitators — all served to keep the 
blacks in line. Candidates for office were nominated by the 
League, and no member could vote for a candidate not en- 
dorsed by the order." 

Part of the initiatory ceremonies of the Loyal League 
consisted of a supposed dialogue between a colored citizen, 
seeking the light, and a white Republican. A few of the 
questions and answers may prove interesting. 

Question. With what party should the colored men 
vote? 

Answer. The Union Republican Party. 

Q. Why? 

A. Because that party has made him free and given 
him the ballot. 

Q. What has the Democratic Party done since the 
war? 

A. It has sustained Mr. Johnson in his efforts to re- 
store your old masters to power in the country, and op- 
posed every act for your benefit. 

(Of course the negroes were not told that Mr. Lincoln 
rejected negro suffrage, and favored restoring the whites 
to power) . 

Q. Is the Democratic Party known by any other name? 

A. It is known as Copperhead, Conservative and 
Rebel. Under each name it is still the same enemy of 
freedom and of the rights of man. 

18 



Q. Would the Democrats make slaves of the colored 
people if they could? 

A. It is fair to presume that they would, for they 
have opposed their freedom by every means in their power. 

Q. Why cannot colored men support the Democratic 
Party? 

A. Because that party would disfranchise them, and, 
if possible, return them to slavery. 

The colored questioner then says, "Well, I am satisfied. 
Y(vi have clearly shown me my duty and I shall impart the 
information to my people." 

We can rest assured that these insinuations lost none of 
their strength in the telling. 

So powerful did the Loyal League become that its 
mandates had the force of laws among the negroes. A 
negro who dared to accept the advice of his former master 
was persecuted by the League, whipped, and, in some cases, 
as I have said, put to death. Arms were freely furnished 
the colored members, and they were formed into military 
companies. Parading and rioting, drunk and bent upon 
destruction, these leaguers became in one an abomination 
and a menace. Barn burning was the favorite dose ad- 
ministered to southern whites who were audacious enough 
to resent this affront to law and order. Complaints or ap- 
peals to the judicial authorities were worse than useless, 
for they were the creatures of the League. Whites were 
arrested at every opportunity, even when defending them- 
selves from such mobs, or from individual impudent and 
vicious rascals, and were promptly punished, but the ne- 
groes were made more daring by the knowledge that they 
were above the law. In counties, where a semblance of a 
decent judiciary still existed. Radical lawbreakers, brought 
to justice, were often promptly pardoned by the Carpet- 
bag governors, and restored to the carnival of crime. One 
reputable judge said that he met men on the street only a 
few days after he had sent them to the penitentiary for 
long terms. 

19 



On election day these negro military companies 
marched to the polls, cap-a-pie, surrounded the voting place, 
stacked arms, and voted as many times as the white leaders 
thought necessary to insure Republican success. Some- 
times parades were held from one voting place to another, 
the negroes voting at every one, or as Fleming has said, 
they voted "early and often." But they were not as early 
as one Bowles, who had prepared several hundred Re- 
publican tickets, properly voted in advance, and who suc- 
ceeded in depositing these "little jokers" in the box before 
the polls opened. When the whites complained, the election 
board merely said the ballots were in the box and hence 
must be counted. Of course many of the negroes were too 
ignorant to mark a ticket, so they were received at the 
door of the polls by one of the election officials, always a 
trusted leader of the Loyal League. The negroes had been 
coached to say that they wanted to vote the "Publican" 
ticket, and this accommodating election officer saw to it 
that their wishes were carried out in toto. The most suc- 
cessful invention of the Radical machine was the appoint- 
ment of returning boards by the Carpet-bag governors. At 
the close of the election the ballot boxes were taken, sealed, 
to these boards, who counted them, at their leisure, gener- 
ally in private. No appeal was allowed from their decision. 
A close Conservative victory was, in practically every in- 
stance, nullified by these partisan and dishonest officials, 
who would make way with enough Conservative votes to 
bring Republican success. Many times, however, when 
the southerners were aroused to fury, and carried the day 
so unmistakably that such methods were impossible, an ap- 
peal, on the ground of fraud, to the commanding general, or 
to the Radical President, Mr. Grant, would bring the same 
results. 

We have heard much of intimidation practiced by the 
whites upon the negroes, but in very few recorded histories 
can we glean the unquestioned fact that the whites were 
constantly intimidated, often assaulted, and sometimes even 
murdered by the Loyal League, the negro militia, and the 

20 



still worse white military companies, recruited by the 
Carpet-bag governors. 

The signs were indeed ominous. Negro militarism, 
white Radical military oppression, courts closed to justice, 
confiscation of lands, robbery, arson, murder — little won- 
der that the southern whites first despaired, then rebelled, 
and finally drove the oppressors from the land. 

I have spoken mostly of material things. How can I lay 
bare the hearts of the men and women of the South — 
hearts filled with terror and anguish? Over this once hap- 
py land there hung a horrifying dread. The South was 
in the clutches of a veritable "Black Death," for every 
morn, it seemed, brought news of another outrage upon 
white womanhood. 

What would you have done, men of the North? Would 
you have arisen, in spite of laws, in spite of Federal troops, 
in spite of impending imprisonment and possible death, 
in defense of a mother, a sister, a wife or a sweetheart? 
There can be but one answer, for manhood still lives, the 
blood is red, and the hearts are pure. Thus acted the men 
of the South, and a partisan history has dubbed them out- 
laws and murderers. Unfortunately you and I have un- 
wittingly condoned the injustice. 

Let me tell the story of this revolution. 

During the period of reconstruction scores of protective 
secret organizations were formed by the white men of the 
South. These ranged "from small bodies of neighborhood 
police, which were common in 1865 and 1866, to great 
federated orders like the White Camelia, covering the en- 
tire South and even extending into the North and West. 
The largest and best known was the Ku Klux Klan, or the 
Invisible Empire." 

The Ku Klux Klan was organized by some young men of 
Pulaski, Tennessee. Originally it seems to have been part- 
ly an expression of the gregarious instincts of youth. In 
addition these young ex-Confederate soldiers were in 
search of amusement, and soon found that terrorizing the 
criminal element among the negroes, by means of mysteri- 

21 



ous costumes and nig-htly maneuvers, furnished both fun 
for themselves and protection to life, property and the 
home. It is impossible to determine what relative part 
these desires played in the original organization, but it is 
sure that in a very short time protection became the great 
object of these watchers of the night. Their success led to 
similar protective orders throughout the whole South, and 
they soon united under the name of "The Invisible Empire." 

It was indeed an invisible empire. Initiations were not 
mere useless horse-play, as in some societies of the present 
time, but were designed to test thoroughly the mettle of the 
initiate, and one who passed through them possessed brav- 
ery at least. The Ku Klux Klan at first performed much 
the services of the slave-patrol of ante-bellum days. Mr. 
Gardner, in "Reconstruction in Mississippi," says, "The 
nocturnal perambulations of the freedmen, their habits of 
running away from labor contracts, the large amount of 
petit larceny among them at the time, the abandonment of 
crops to attend political meetings, their participation in the 
Loyal Leagues, and their alleged insolence to their former 
masters created a necessity for some kind of restraints, as 
the whites believed. The Ku Klux Klan organization (in 
Mississippi) was designed to accomplish this purpose." 
That the first operations of the Ku Klux Klan were a 
blessing seems to be admitted by most northern historians. 
The Radical leaders became more moderate, burnings, a 
weapon of the Loyal League, stopped, negroes were fright- 
ened into good behavior, women were protected, and civil- 
ized forms of society reappeared. In many sections the 
activities of the Ku Klux Klan consisted only of innocent 
pranks to frighten the negroes into obedience, and such 
sections soon fell into the hands of the whites. In the black 
districts, however, with the coming of Carpet-bag rule, and 
the consequent social disorders, more strenuous measures 
were adopted. When other methods failed, whipping and 
even the death penalty were resorted to as preventatives of 
arson and the ravishing of women. These punishments 
were decreed and carried out in a formal and dignified 

22 



manner in conformity with the strict discipline of the Ku 
Klux Klan leaders. The members of this order were thus 
self-constituted committees of safety, such as always ap- 
pear sooner or later in a lawless, disorganized society. Like 
organizations served to restore order in many western 
mining towns during a rule of anarchy. This fact must 
be kept constantly in mind — in many sections of the South 
there was no other protection to life, property or virtue. 
The more serious penalties imposed by the order would 
never have been resorted to by the intelligent men of the 
South had the courts been open to them, or had even a 
semblance of justice and civilization been maintained. 
And the Ku Klux Klan was composed of the bravest and 
best men of the South, much as this has been denied by 
well-meaning northern apologists. Anarchy reigned su- 
preme, and the Ku Klux Klans merely resorted to the first 
law of nature, self-preservation. The ethics of social pro- 
gress demand that, at such a time, the intelligent and safe 
elements of society band together to restore law and order. 
The means to be used must be commensurate with the dis- 
orders threatening, and the Ku Klux Klans stayed within 
the limitations of this rule. Men must be judged by their 
own times. The present high state of civilization makes it 
difficult to realize that only a few years ago in a part of 
these United States, the mandates of stern necessity forced 
an appeal to primitive methods in dealing with a still more 
primitive and barbarous society. 

The spirit of the Ku Klux Klan is shown in the words of 
one of its organizers, Mr. John B. Kennedy. His words 
rings as true as steel, but the inspiration back of them has 
been neglected or ignored by every northern historian, 
though his words contain exact history. He says, 'The 
Ku Klux Klans were composed of the very best citizens of 
our country ; their mission was to protect the weak and op- 
pressed during the dark days of reconstruction. To pro- 
tect the women of the South, who were the loveliest, most 
noble and best women in the world." To ignore this 
cardinal virtue of the men of the fair Southland is to leave 

23 



unwritten the history of that section. No writer of 
country-wide fame, except Thomas J. Dixon, author of the 
"Clansman," America's greatest historical novel, has fully 
appreciated the great dynamic force of this heroic element 
in the secret political societies of the southern men. While 
the eyes of history were blinded the hearts of the south- 
ern women have known the truth. Let me quote from the 
writings of a southern woman of charm and talent, Mrs. 
S. E. F. Rose, Historian of the Mississippi Division of the 
United Daughters of the Confederacy. She says, "The Ku 
Klux Klan formed a circle of protection around the homes 
and women of the South and brought them through the 
dark shadows of reconstruction days, safe and unharmed." 

The Ku Klux Klan operated entirely in the night. Meet- 
ings were held in out-of-the-way places. The official 
habiliments were both awe-inspiring and gruesome. The 
costume was a long white robe, starched and ironed, which 
glistened in the night. On the breast was a bright red 
cross. A hood covered the head and face, with apertures 
for the eyes, nose and mouth, trimmed in red. The hood 
had three horns. Sometimes a movable tongue, six inches 
in length, extended from the mouth, with its large and 
frightful teeth. Mechanical appliances were used to in- 
crease the terror of the negroes. One of these white-robed 
apparitions would appear before the cabin of a darky, ask 
for water, and gulp down a whole bucketful at one swallow. 
"Ah," he would say, "I've traveled nearly a thousand miles 
in twenty-four hours, and that is the first good drink of 
water I've had since I was killed at the battle of Shiloh." 
The gowns were often arranged so that a skull was fastened 
in the hood, while the rider's real head was hidden. He 
would apparently remove his head from his shoulders and 
insist that a negro hold it for him. The latter would depart 
at full speed with a yell of terror. Another rider would 
offer to shake hands with a freedman, but the hand that the 
negro clasped was that of a skeleton. Well could the negro 
believe that this was a ghost from the lower world come to 
punish him for his evil ways. Some of the Ku Klux Klan 

24 



seemed ten feet tall or more, and the credulous negroes 
even believed that a Ku Klux could fly through the air. 

The Invisible Empire, or Ku Klux Klan, was organized 
in fourteen states. The chief ruler, called the Grand 
Wizard, was General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the great 
cavalry hero of the South. To his efficient leadership and 
restraining counsels was due much of the success of the 
order. He was assisted by ten Genii. Each state was a 
Realm, ruled over by a Grand Dragon and eight Hydras; 
each congressional district was a Dominion, at the head of 
which was the Grand Titan and his six Furies; each 
county was a Province, ruled by a Grand Giant and four 
Goblins, Each county was divided into Camps or Dens, 
each governed by a Grand Cyclops and his two Night 
Hawks. Other officers of the local Dens were the Grand 
Turk, Grand Monk, Grand Exchequer, Grand Scribe and 
Grand Sentinel. The private members were Ghouls. The 
decrees of the Den were pompously delivered by an officer, 
and were usually pronounced as an order of the Grand 
Cyclops registered in some corner of Hades. Warnings, 
couched in mystifying language brought terror to the hearts 
of the superstitious negroes. A warning was never re- 
peated. The following is a type. 

2D, X I A-. K. K. K. Dismal Swamp 

11th hour. 
Mene, mene, tekel upharsin. The bloody dagger is 
drawn ; the trying hour is at hand ; beware ; your steps 
are marked; the eye of the dark chief is upon you. First 
he warns; then the avenging dagger flashes in the moon- 
light. 

By order of the Grand Cyclops. 

LIXTO. 

Sometimes night parades were held to increase the fear 
of the negroes, and as a warning to the Carpet-baggers. 
The horses were caparisoned in long white robes, and a cov- 
ering over their hoofs made silent steeds in keeping with 

25 



the owners. What a stupendous sight — these majestic, 
mysterious riders coming through the town, silent and fore- 
boding. Every man was heavily armed, but not a shot 
would be fired, nor would a hand be raised in violence 
against them or by them. Slowly through the streets they 
paraded, and before them the black and white militia scat- 
tered like grains of dust. 

The disguises were perfect. Detection was practically 
impossible, for no Southerner would take part in parades 
nor in the execution of commands of the Klan in his home 
town. Mandates were carried out by a Den far removed. 
Even Klansmen could not penetrate the disguises of these 
solemn masqueraders. On such occasions the members liv- 
ing in the town where the ceremonies were being performed 
would circulate freely through the crowds, making them- 
selves purposely conspicuous. One southern man, a mem- 
ber of the Klan, said that he could recognize every horse in 
the county, and upon lifting the covering from the horse 
of one of these night paraders, to prove his boast, found, 
much to his astonishment, that the horse was his own. 

There was indeed need of great secrecy, for harsh pun- 
ishments were imposed by both Federal and state laws for 
interfering with the work of the reconstructionists. It 
was fortunate, however, that these protective and retalia- 
tory societies were compelled to operate in secret, and to 
adopt mysterious ways to play upon the simple credulity 
of the negroes, for this made unnecessary the use of vio- 
lence, except as a final resort. Yet there was danger in 
secrecy as well. When the Ku Klux Klan had recovered 
home rule and self-government for several states, and had 
prepared the way for the same results in the other south- 
ern states, the leaders found that bands of criminals were 
shielding themselves in the robes of the order. At least 
in the North every criminal act, in the whole demoralized 
South, was attributed to the Klan, and the unfortunate re- 
sults of a petty warfare between the lowest elements of 
both races were laid to it as well. The leaders of the Klan 
now turned every energy to preventing these outrages, but 

26 



as long as robes could hide the identity of the night riders 
it was almost impossible to distinguish between the real 
Ku Klux Klans and their imitators. In some cases felons, 
acting in the name of the Klan, were caught and put to 
death by the order itself. The Klan, having furnished pro- 
tection to the women of the South from crazed negroes, 
now turned with desperate resolution to protect all classes, 
blacks as well as whites, from rogues and criminals. These 
brave and patriotic efforts have passed the historian's gaze 
unnoticed. To distinguish between the real and bogus 
Klansmen it was finally necessary to disband the entire or- 
ganization, and an order to that effect was given by the 
Grand Wizard and put into operation by the lesser officials. 
The robes of the order could no longer be used. By this 
act the leaders of the real Klan were able to deal more 
easily with the bogus Klansmen. Yet the real Klansmen 
were in an extremely difficult position, for they dared not 
disclose their own identity and ask the Federal troops to 
co-operate with them in suppressing lawlessness and crime. 
This, too, made it impossible for the North to realize the 
difference between the brave men of the Ku Klux Klan 
and their imitators. Fortunately the most despotic and 
unconstitutional act ever passed by the Congress of the 
United States now enabled the President to strictly perse- 
cute the real Klan, as he supposed. In reality his efforts 
led to the practical extermination of the lawless elements 
of the frontier districts. Nothing could have better pleased 
the men of the South. 

The Ku Klux Klan had accomplished much. From a 
political viewpoint it had secured home rule for several 
of the southern states, had ended the disgraceful rule of 
the Carpet-baggers therein, and had helped to re-establish 
honest and efficient governmental institutions. This ex- 
ample was an inspiration which, after 1872, soon led the 
men of the southern states still in Radical control to a 
glorious victory in regaining self-government. From an 
economic standpoint, the negroes had been frightened into 
going to work, and were prevented, to a large extent, from 

27 



breaking labor contracts. These were important services 
in the rehabilitation of the South. From a social stand- 
point, the Klan had protected property, had protected life, 
and had brought order out of chaos. 

Northern opinion of the Ku Klux Klan has been based 
partly upon the misrepresentations of the Republicans, 
especially during the presidential campaigns of 1868 and 
1872, who "waved the bloody shirt" to good political ad- 
vantage in the North. It has resulted, too, from the fact 
that the Northerners were too far removed from the scenes 
of reconstruction to realize the true situation. It is now 
time to lay aside prejudices, and to read history with the 
heart. I would have every boy and girl, every man and 
woman, in the land know that the Ku Klux Klan was a 
brave and chivalrous defender of American homes and 
American women during a period of misrule. I would tell 
of the hardships and sacrifices of these patriotic men, and 
of the loyalty to them of the fair women of the South. I 
would compare the miserable usurpation of the Radical Re- 
publicans to the tyranny of the Stuarts. I would compare 
the Ku Klux Klans to the Puritan followers of Cromwell. 
Yet I would say that protection of the home is a more 
glorious work than a struggle for religious or political 
rights. 

Perhaps the Klansmen were familiar with the history 
of the American Revolution. Perhaps they had heard of 
"taxation without representation." Perhaps they knew 
that Samuel Adams had resorted to secret societies, the 
committees of correspondence. Perhaps, when reviewing 
American history, they saw an analogy between their own 
conditions and those of the colonists under George the 
Third. Yet how much more oppressed were the men and 
women of the South! Perhaps they saw that they, too, 
were fighting for home rule and self-government. Perhaps 
they were familiar with the Declaration of Independence, 
which says that governments are instituted for securing 
the enjoyment of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, 
and "that whenever any Form of Government becomes de- 

28 



structive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter 
or abolish it, and to initiate new Government. . . . likely 
to effect their Safety and Happiness." 

It has been impossible for the South to forget the 
hideous nightmare of reconstruction. Would that I could 
say to every man and woman in the South — we know the 
great burden that was upon you ; we, too, detest the selfish 
vipers responsible for the injustice; we honor your brave 
men who brought about that glorious revolution which pro- 
tected you and restored your political rights. Come, let us 
forgive and forget. May our common God, the God of 
Peace and Charity, unite us in undying sympathy and love. 



29 



PRESS OF 

EVANGELICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE 

CLEVELAND. OHIO 



